I. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to systems, methods, and devices for identifying products in retail stores, and more specifically to systems, methods, and devices for capturing, collecting, and automatically analyzing images of products displayed in retail stores for purposes of providing one or more functions associated with the identified products.
II. Background Information
Shopping in stores is a prevalent part of modern daily life. Store owners (also known as “retailers”) stock a wide variety of products on store shelves and add associated labels and promotions to the store shelves. Typically, retailers have a set of processes and instructions for organizing products on the store shelves. The source of some of these instructions may include contractual obligations and other preferences related to the retailer methodology for placement of products on the store shelves. Nowadays, many retailers and suppliers send people to stores to personally monitor compliance with the desired product placement. Such a monitoring technique, however, may be inefficient and may result in nonuniform compliance among retailers relative to various product-related guidelines. This technique may also result in significant gaps in compliance, as it does not allow for continuous monitoring of dynamically changing product displays. To increase productivity, among other potential benefits, there is a technological need to provide a dynamic solution that will automatically monitor retail spaces. Such a solution, for example and among other features, may automatically determine whether a disparity exists between a desired product placement and an actual product placement.
The disclosed devices and methods are directed to providing new ways for monitoring retail establishments using image processing and supporting sensors.